Preview Monday afternoon PDC World Darts Championship: Nathan Aspinall and Ricky Evans headline line-up

We have a cracking afternoon session in store on this final day of the third round at the World Darts Championship including many of the surprise elements of this year's line-up.

Nathan Aspinall locks horns with Dutch ace Kevin Doets. The other two ties are well worth watching too. World Championship sensation Justin Hood opens the afternoon with a clash against Ryan Meikle, while we can also look forward to a showdown between Ricky Evans and Charlie Manby.
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The average World Championship viewer had probably never heard of Justin Hood before the tournament, but “Happy Feet” is rapidly making an indelible impression on darts fans. His debut was already impressive. He beat Nick Kenny 3-0 in sets with a 99.59 average. Then Danny Noppert, the world number 6, also fell. Noppert played more than well, but couldn’t withstand Hood’s relentless 180 barrage. The diminutive Englishman prevailed in a thriller with a sudden death against Noppert. Hood’s numbers were striking. A 103.01 average, eleven 180s, and a 42.90 checkout rate. With those stats, Hood can go deep at this tournament.

Against Ryan Meikle, Hood suddenly finds himself favored to cap his Worlds debut with a place in the last sixteen. Meikle is playing his sixth World Championship, but he’s no high-flyer. At his last three Worlds, Meikle went out in the second round, but this time “The Barber” survived round two with a 3-2 win over Jonny Tata. Every year Meikle has to scrap to keep his Tour Card, but thanks to this result, the Englishman heads into the new season with a healthy cushion.

Meikle has been on the PDC Tour for several years, while Hood debuted as a PDC Tour Card holder in 2025. In the early months of this season, the two Englishmen have not met in an official match.

Buckle up, because this will be a fast and above all entertaining contest between two Englishmen who rattle their darts at the board. A World Championship isn’t complete without the presence of “Santa” Ricky Evans, who during his two pre-Christmas matches once again donned a brilliant festive outfit and entertained the crowd with Shakin’ Stevens’ Merry Christmas Everyone as his walk-on. But Evans hasn’t just entertained with the sideshow, as “Rapid Ricky” has coupled his eccentric flair with strong performances at this tournament. Man Lok Leung looked a potential banana skin in round one, but the Hong Kong darter was convincingly beaten 3-0 in sets. A cracker with James Wade followed. The two Englishmen served up a superb spectacle that wasn’t decided until ten legs into the final set. Evans got the rub of the green and is into the last 32 at Ally Pally for the fifth time in his career. The last 16 has eluded the 35-year-old so far.

His opponent Charlie Manby produced an excellent feat by surviving Christmas at the Worlds without a PDC Tour Card. “Champagne,” as he’s nicknamed, started his tournament with a fine 3-2 win over Cameron Menzies. Manby didn’t get much credit for that, as the focus fell on Menzies’ misconduct after the match. When Manby then won 3-0 in sets against Adam Sevada in round two, the 20-year-old Englishman moved firmly into the spotlight.

In principle, Manby is headed to Q-School in January, but he still has a chance to clinch a PDC Tour Card via the World Championship. To do so, Manby must win two more matches. If he succeeds, he may well see more of Evans next year. The two Englishmen have never faced each other before.

Then it is the turn of our top tie as the Last 16 beckons. It’s not unfamiliar territory for Kevin Doets, as “Hawk Eye” also reached the last 16 at Alexandra Palace last year. Doets had a false start to the tournament when he dropped a set behind to Matthew Dennant in round one, but the Englishman was then beaten 3-1 in sets. Up next was Kenyan sensation David Munyua, who had sprung a surprise by beating Mike De Decker in round one. Doets kept his cool and quickly silenced the noisy crowd. A 3-0 win saw him comfortably through to round three.

He will, however, need to find another gear to have a real chance against Nathan Aspinall, an outsider for the world title in London. “The Asp,” a finalist at the Players Championship Finals in Minehead in late November, has yet to fully show his hand at this event. In round one, Aspinall battled past Lourence Ilagan 3-1 thanks to a 170 checkout, and in round two the Stockport man was too strong for Leonard Gates, winning 3-0 in sets. His averages of 94.01 and 91.76 respectively are certainly there to be improved.

What won’t calm Aspinall is his record against Doets, as the Dutchman has often shown he can beat “The Asp.” Of their previous six meetings, Doets has won five. Two of those came in 2025. At the Dutch Darts Masters in Den Bosch, Doets ran out a 6-1 winner, and at a Euro Tour event in Austria, Doets took it 6-2. So “Hawk Eye” can approach this matchup with confidence.